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Rising coaching star Nick Evans is a fan of LQB rather than KBA
Former Ireland outside half Ronan O’Gara is getting his La Rochelle team to embrace the concept of Keep Ball Alive (KBA) as they bid for European glory but All Black Nick Evans prefers LQB as he steers Harlequins towards a Gallagher Premiership title challenge.
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Former All Black Evans admires O’Gara’s KBA edict but sees the key to Harlequins success the delivery of Lightning Quick Ball (LQB) which he drums into the players as attack coach, a role that looks certain to take him to the top of the sport. Like O’Gara, Evans is already being tipped for an international coaching role and both men are helping give European rugby an exciting attacking edge supplemented by a clearly defined kicking strategy rather than the aimless kick-tennis that disfigures the game.
Since the departure of Paul Gustard as head of rugby in January the potency of the Quins attack has increased with a different emphasis. Gustard’s area of excellence was defence and it is clear the balance in the team’s play has moved to attack as Evans explained: “There has been a bit more freedom and that is related to the way we train now with a lot of gaining space drills and a lot around off loading to create LQB.
“With the players we have got, I don’t want to put them in a box and say “in this position you do this”. We have a detailed framework how we want to manipulate teams but we want guys to make decisions on the pitch and create scenarios and to find different solutions. “
Evans dismisses the notion that LQB means running the ball at every opportunity and points to the Premiership statistics that show that while fourth-placed Harlequins are top of the list with 491 points and second behind Exeter with 59 tries, with 2,000 passes they are nearly 600 behind Bristol.
Big coaching news coming out of the Top 14… https://t.co/nrMEDvJrip
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 22, 2021
Evans set out his attacking vision for RugbyPass with kicking a key component explaining: “I know that O’Gara has talked about KBA and we have a similar thing with Lightening Quick Ball and our kicking strategy is designed to create something which could force a turnover contest or kick for set-piece so that we can attack their set-piece. All our language around kicking is about attack and our players understand it is part of the game and when we don’t get LQB we have the ability to kick and create.
“If you look at the Premiership statistics we are top in the number of kicks per game. Everyone looks at us and talks about us throwing the ball around and attacking from anywhere but we average 28 kicks a game. Granted some of those are attacking kicks but we have a clear philosophy around our kicking and we are ranked sixth in terms of time in possession of the ball compared to Exeter or Bristol but when we do have the ball we are pretty lethal.”
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Evans has a clarity of thought and good communications skills which underpinned his own playing career that brought 16 All Black caps and allowed him to finish his career with 1656 Premiership points putting him fourth in the all-time list. England scrum half Danny Care has revelled in the attacking game plan Evans has created and sees his former half back partner going all the way as a coach.
Care said: “Nick wants to go to the very top. He’s willing to put in the work, willing to put in the learning, his aspirations are international rugby, I’m sure. Whether that’s back home in New Zealand or over here, I’m sure he’d snap the opportunity up wherever it came. I think he’s really happy as a coach at Quins now, the freedom that he’s given to make our attack tick, he’s loving that freedom.
“He’s a brilliant rugby mind, he always was as a player, he’s the same as a coach. Some of the moves he comes up with are things that I don’t see when I analyse teams, but he sees it. I think he’s a great coach, he’s willing to work hard, hopefully he stays at Quins for a while, but the coaching world is his oyster.”
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Evans is an ambitious coach and while Quins have his full attention, the chance to test himself at international level is a tantalising prospect He added: “It does to appeal to me and it would be silly if I didn’t admit to aspirations higher up the ladder. I am still learning and in the last 10 weeks I have had the most amount of autonomy I have had and feel real comfortable. I enjoy the challenge of putting my stamp on it and giving the players a voice is important and from Wilco Louw to Mike Brown everyone has their thoughts.
“Sometimes it can be a little overwhelming but I have clear ideas of how I see things from my experiences in New Zealand and here at Quins and it teaches you to be adaptable.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
37 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments